Clutching a set of sketches and routing plans on a sweltering late-September afternoon, Bobby Cupp stops on a hillside overlooking the 6th green of the Azalea nine at Bobby Jones Golf Course. Cupp begins describing the green and the flow of the hole while general manager Brian Conley gazes at a hillside adjacent to the fairway.

After Cupp finishes speaking, Conley directs a visitor to the hillside, which offers a glance at Atlanta’s gleaming, expansive and expanding skyline.

“That,” Conley says, “is our ‘Selfie Central.’”

Cupp rolls up the sketches. “I never thought of that,” he says.

Legendary architect Bob Cupp started working on a plan to improve Bobby Jones GC in 2013. Cupp died in 2016.

Photo courtesy of Bobby Jones GC

Those responsible for one of the nation’s biggest urban golf transformations learn something each time they tour the 128-acre site, which recently debuted a reversible 9-hole course to residents accustomed to a dearth of selfie-worthy public golf courses.

The Atlanta metro area, hometown of Jones, winner of the 1930 grand slam, supported just one 18-hole public course per 64,754 residents in 2016, which ranked 314th out of 345 cities the National Golf Foundation examined for its 2017 “Golf Facilities in the U.S.” report. The option of hopping in a car, bus or train, traveling 15 minutes and playing a two-hour nine or blasting a bucket of balls doesn’t exist for thousands living near Atlanta’s urban core.

Once a stagnant city-owned, 18-hole facility opened in 1932 and operated by a management company, the Bobby Jones GC marks the first urban reversible layout opened in the United States during the current construction wave. High-end resorts in remote parts of Michigan and Oregon have also introduced reversible courses.

A reversible course stretching from 3,164 to 7,313 yards utilizing the versatile Longleaf Tee System when played as 18 holes represents only part of the Bobby Jones GC transformation. Changes also include the addition of a practice range and 6-hole Cupp Links with holes ranging from 50 to 70 yards. The short course is named after Bobby’s father, Bob Cupp, a legendary architect who died in August 2016.

The older Cupp started studying the site as early as 2003, devoting countless hours to finding solutions for the course despite the frustration associated with bureaucratic layers. “The studies said the same thing,” says Marty Elgison, president of Bobby Jones Golf Course Foundation, Inc., which formed in 2016 to create an accessible facility worthy of Bobby Jones’s name. “If the city would put money into its courses, they would be nicer and more people will play them. The city never did that.”

The conglomeration of influential Atlantans, including Robert Tyre Jones IV, the grandson of Bobby Jones, comprising the Foundation raised more than $23 million for the project. Each hole has a naming sponsor who contributed $150,000 to the effort. A breakthrough occurred in November 2016 when the state completed a swap of underground parking lots it owned for the golf course. The state then granted the Foundation permission to lease the course. Plans include the construction of the 23,000-square foot Murray Golf House, which will serve as the headquarters for the Georgia State Golf Association, Georgia Section of the PGA of America and Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. The Murray Golf House is scheduled to be completed in 2019, the same year superintendent Kyle Macdonald and team are expected to receive a new maintenance facility. The course will also serve as the home of the Georgia State University men’s and women’s golf teams.

Cupp, coincidentally, was the first architect to be enshrined into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. Asked what the completion of the project means to his family, Bobby becomes emotional. “I don’t think I can put that into words,” he says. “It’s been a ride. I talk to him every day. I can tell you that.”

The Murray Golf House being constructed on the Bobby Jones GC grounds will be home to the state’s golf hall of fame and multiple organizations.

image: Bobby Jones GC

A mutual friend, former USGA executive committee member Gene McClure, introduced Elgison to the elder Cupp in 2012. Elgison, the Jones family attorney, made resuscitating the Bobby Jones GC a personal endeavor following his retirement in 2011. Cupp and Elgison developed an instant connection, with Cupp offering his services for free.

After completing an 18-hole, 5,400-yard routing without a range, Cupp started working on a 9-hole plan with a range. The plan changed in 2013 when Cupp started pondering the Old Course at St. Andrews, which has a reversible history. Six months later, Cupp presented Elgison with a reversible plan for Bobby Jones GC. Bobby says his father spoke numerous times with fellow architect Tom Doak, whose reversible layout, “The Loop,” opened at Michigan’s Forest Dunes Resort in 2016.

“(Cupp) called me one morning and said, ‘I got it. I figured it out,’” Elgison says. “What he sent to me is 98 percent of what you see today. A few things have changed because of site conditions. But the basic routing is 98 percent of what we ended up with.”

Construction commenced in November 2017, with Wadsworth Golf Construction, one of the project’s founding sponsors, turning the reversible plans into a physical reality. The course will utilize just two heights of cut for its TifEagle greens and TifTuf hitting surfaces, Macdonald says. The Bobby Jones GC is an early adopter of TifTuf, a bermudagrass variety developed and tested by the University of Georgia’s Dr. Wayne Hanna and Dr. Brian Schwartz.

The Foundation selected Mosaic to manage the course. Mosaic hired Conley and Macdonald earlier this year to lead key departments. “You’re learning something new every day here,” says Macdonald, who previously worked at St. Ives Country Club in Atlanta’s private golf-rich north suburbs. “The thing that excited me most about this project was being able to give the public a private-level golf experience. Atlanta doesn’t have anything like this.”

Rates have yet to be finalized, but officials and employees envision a diverse customer base enjoying the course, range and Cupp Links. Selfies will come at no extra cost.

“When we finally started to get things built and you could see some of the greens, we were above the 6th green and Bobby Jones IV said, ‘My grandfather would be proud to have his name associated with this,’” Elgison says. “That says it all. If we do that, we’ll be successful.”

Tartan Talks No. 28

Chris Wilczynski

Photo: Courtesy of Chris Wilczynski

Not all master plans are created the same. And not all master plans require the same amount of time to implement.

Chris Wilczynski completed a master plan at Wanakah (N.Y.) Country Club earlier this year. The plan, which represented his first project upon forming C.W. Golf Architecture in 2010, took nine years to complete.

Wilczynski describes the dynamics of master planning in a “Tartan Talks” episode, comparing the beginning of the process to establishing a personal relationship. “It’s like dating,” he says. “When you’re dating somebody, you really want to get to know them and make sure it’s a good fit – and that’s me when I’m analyzing a golf course.”

Having a father who served as a superintendent before launching a successful career as an irrigation salesman, introduced Wilczynski to the patience associated with golf project management. He learned the nuances of the business working for architect Arthur Hills. Wilczynski offers stories from his lifetime around the business in the podcast.

Golf from above

Departments - TEEINGOFF

Here’s some free flying advice: Given the option, always take the window seat. You’re isolated from aisle distractions – Couldn’t the jittery dude in Row 12 limit coffee consumption before boarding a three-hour flight? – and get to stare at the land below, which includes thousands of golf courses.

On a connecting flight from Las Vegas to Denver, I hit the jackpot, scoring a window seat despite receiving a C boarding position. Frequent travelers will tell you this is akin to breaking 80 without bringing a solid game to the course. It rarely happens.

It was the only jackpot I hit in Las Vegas. We were simply using Sin City for its airport following an outdoorsy whirlwind through Arizona and southern Utah. I’m not fretting about the lack of Las Vegas time. The GCSAA realized Las Vegas possesses more winter weather predictably and attendance-boosting elements than San Antonio, so we’re all headed west in 2021. Viva listening to your members!

The flight into Denver included wonderful views of geological formations too complex for a magazine editor to comprehend and mountains in the preliminary stages of becoming snow-capped for the season. The good stuff materialized on the descent: glimpses of golf courses.

The courses provided visible green amongst miles of parched earth. Denver received less than 8 inches of precipitation through October. If you had fallen asleep in Las Vegas and suddenly opened your eyes, you would have thought the flight had traveled at an automobile speed. A peek at a few Denver courses illustrated water woes extend beyond the Southwest. Anybody working in the golf business can empathize with the region’s superintendents from a window seat.

The courses I spotted in Denver weaved through modern neighborhoods, thus demonstrating the correlation between golf and a booming city. The link between golf and real estate makes more sense from above, because vast stretches of homes and turf can be observed in the same frame. The neighborhoods with courses, especially during a drought, are the most attractive communities from above.

In addition to telling operational and business stories, window seats are excellent for golf architecture junkies. Fairway routing, green and tee positioning, and bunker and hazard placement can be studied and photographed. Even on a vacation, higher golf learning never stops.

Window seats aren’t the only elevated spots to examine golf courses. The trip started in Phoenix, where we hiked Camelback Mountain via the Cholla Trailhead. The ascent offered broad views of The Phoenician Golf Club. The resort is undergoing a massive overhaul, with its golf course being reduced from 27 to 18 holes by architect Phil Smith. The purpose of the reductions become clear from the trail: less turf to maintain, more acreage for real estate in a desirable desert neighborhood and a fresh look for regular guests of the 30-year-old resort. Had the course been completed by this damp mid-October day, I would have regretted leaving the clubs at home.

Camelback Mountain tips out at 2,707 feet, which is flat compared to the courses featured in this month’s cover story by Judd Spicer. Never one to avoid reporting on a golf adventure, Spicer profiles the operational challenges at Sierra Star and Bear Mountain, a pair of courses resting at 8,050 and 7,000 feet, respectively. An abundance of snow means condensed playing – and agronomic – seasons at both facilities.

Enduring the challenges are worthwhile. Visitors who enjoy hitting golf shots between staring at mountains mean continual revenue for operators and year-round work for employees who contribute to ski experiences in the winter.

Judging by the photos accompanying the story, I’m sure both courses look splendid from a window seat.

Volunteer U

Columns - Outside the Ropes

Most of us are used to managing our crews, the eight to 30 people we’ve hired and trained and who know the course like the backs of their hands. But host a big tournament — like a major championship or tour event — and suddenly we’re overseeing an army of 150 to 200, or more, volunteers charged with getting and keeping the course at its best. Trust me, you’re going to need a new playbook.

The organization running the event will likely have much to say about coordinating your new-found army of volunteers. But there’s more to it than assigning mower-routes and handing out shovels, rakes and keys to carts. This is your chance to be the Chancellor of Volunteer U, making it as good for them as you want them to be to your course.

When volunteers give up their time and money to help out, it’s important that you put extra thought and effort into making it a rewarding, educational and safe experience. I know, I’ve been there, on both sides, many times. Here’s how to run the show successfully, beginning with some overall suggestions followed by more specific ideas.

First, be sure to coordinate with the host organization so you know the expectations for the golf course. Then make sure all your volunteers know them, as well. No one should be working in a manner contrary to the agreed-upon specifications.

Second, well before the event begins, select section or crew leaders to serve as your top lieutenants. Make sure all of the volunteers know who they are, then be sure each volunteer knows who they are reporting to and what is expected of them.

Third, on the weekend before the event begins, hold a mandatory, all-hands-on-deck meeting. Go over schedules, expectations and every other aspect of the volunteer experience. Communication is key, but it has to be a two-way street. Get everything out in the open in advance to avoid problems when it’s too late.

Creature Comforts

Housing for volunteers should be comfortable and commensurate to the jobs they are doing: They have to be able to get a good night’s sleep. Use the “buddy system,” matching each person with someone they know or will be comfortable with, both as a roommate (if rooms are being shared) and to help managing logistics in a foreign destination.

Consider a local hotel (not a “no-tell motel”) that you can book in advance with the help of the host organization.

Ask a local college if its dorms are available. But be sure there are decent beds, showers, and necessary amenities like air conditioning and heating.

Provide transportation for volunteers to and from the airport.

Arrange a shuttle system to and from the course for morning and afternoon shifts. If daily security checks are required, attempt to get a checkpoint just for your workers.

If some volunteers are serving as drivers, carefully check driving records and insurance requirements in advance. Paying professional drivers/companies could prove money well spent.

Safety

Provide information and directions to local hospitals and emergency rooms in case something happens after the volunteer’s shift is done or if a medical concern arises.

For those working in the dark, provide reflective gear, headlamps, and adequate lighting to return to the compound.

Education

They’re giving something to you, so give them something in return, such as educational and instructional opportunities during quiet portions of their stay. Think of it as a turfgrass field day and use experienced volunteers to network, teach and mentor younger superintendents.

Bring in your consultants and trusted advisors to share their knowledge and experience on topics ranging from herbicide resistance and disease prevention to career building.

Involve your vendors. Topics could include equipment maintenance, reel sharpening and new technologies.

Sleep Room

Long hours, bodily effort and performance anxiety add up to physical and mental fatigue.

Provide a quiet space and quiet time for everyone to recuperate. This should be a separate, dedicated on-site tent or facility, not just a lounge chair or cot.

Along with a place to sleep, have a locker room with showers, which also will help volunteers get ready for their next shift.

Consider that there may be both male and female volunteers.

Food and Beverage

More than just an obligation, this is a reputation builder for your event. Good food — and plenty of it — is appreciated by all.

Bring in a chef or dietician to plan healthy menus high in water content. Forget the donuts and fried foods. You want to maximize energy levels and mental awareness.

The right food will fuel the energy levels of those beginning and ending their day and those operating heavy, expensive equipment.

Assign a smart, reliable person to run the dining and break areas while listening to the volunteers, especially if conditions change. Consider this a key assignment for a trusted vendor with good local knowledge.

For your own good health, consider hiring a personal trainer, sleep therapist and nutritionist to help manage the rigors of planning and managing a major event.

That’s Not All…

Before the Event

Send a package to each volunteer including:

Pre-event letter (thank you, directions, etc.)

One-day gate pass to access course and pick-up physical credentials at maintenance area

Packing list

Waiver and forms

Frequently Asked Questions

Club and course history

If you can, create a dedicated landing page on the club’s web site for information specific to your volunteer corps

Volunteer Goodie Bag

Everyone appreciates swag. Consider:

Hat

Safety glasses

Ear plugs

Sunscreen

Work gloves

Water bottle

Energy bars

Uniforms/shirts (coordinate with vendors or the host organization)

Rain gear (or include on packing list)

Don’t Forget

Free WiFi in the break room

Televisions and broadcast feed

Merchandise discounts or gift cards.

For A Truly Memorable Experience…

Masseuse

It’s not a spa, but a couple of on-site masseuses can ease sore muscles and work out the kinks.

Dermatologist

Skin cancer screening on-site is a smart, healthy idea.

Physical Therapist

Pre-shift stretching gets the blood flowing and helps prevent injury.

Music

Live music in the break or dining tent sets the tone at the end of a long day.

Group Photo

Assemble the whole team for a commemorative photo. If possible, include the trophy or stage the shot at a memorable location.

Get Out Your CheckBook

Columns - Irrigation Issues

I have been designing golf course irrigation systems for over 35 years and I am amazed at how much installation work is currently out there. There are so many courses – private, public, country club, resort, mom and pop, 9-hole, 18-hole, multiple holes – looking at refurbishing or replacing their irrigations systems that it has outpaced the number of contractors available to do the work. As a result, prices have basically sky rocketed. What was an expensive undertaking before has now become a hugely expensive course improvement.

Why has this happened? First, as we all know, there were not a lot of golf courses installing new irrigation systems or doing much of anything renovation-wise between 2008 and 2016. That created a pent-up demand for improvements. Secondly, back in the early 1990s, golf courses were being built at a very accelerated rate, with hundreds of golf courses being built per year. Those courses are now reaching the age of 18 to 28 years old. Not coincidently, the average life of an irrigation system is considered by most experts at 20 to 25 years. Anything installed from 1991-95 is under consideration for replacement. It also doesn’t help that back then golf courses were being built so quickly the quality of the installation wasn’t exactly top notch. It was a “finish the job as quickly as possible, so we can move on to the next one” mentality. So, at their current age, those irrigation systems are showing a lot of wear.

All this work translates into one thing – higher costs. Higher costs for materials, yes, but luckily it is still a competitive market and the hard-good suppliers/manufacturers (Hunter, Rain Bird and Toro) beat up each other to win jobs. Don’t forget they are after the 25-year replacement parts business. This does not, however, include other items such as pipe, fittings, valves and wire that have higher costs, especially pipe and wire, which is in great demand from other industries.

Labor is a far different story. There are not as many installers because some were lost to the commercial market or went out of business during the downturn. With all the work out there, it is hard to contract a quality installer. Let’s face it, there are excellent installers, good installers, average installers and poor installers. You really want the excellent installer because that means you won’t have to deal with irrigation issues for probably at least five years. With a poor installer, you will be dealing with irrigation issues the week after they finish. The excellent installers know they are excellent and are in great demand. Consequently, they get top dollar and, at this point in time, they pick and choose who they will work for. You want them to pick your course.

How do you get an excellent installer at a worthwhile price? Well, you go early. That means getting your project out to bid and a contract signed as much as a year before construction is slated to start. Contractors have multiple crews and as a result they change pricing as they book more and more of their crews each year. So, the earlier you commit, the less expensive the cost. For example, committing in November might be 15 to 20 percent less expensive labor-wise than committing in May or June of the installation year for fall – if there are even any contractors left.

The other thing that happens in a market like this is companies that do not usually do golf irrigation such as residential and commercial irrigation contractors enter the market. They think that golf irrigation installation is more glamorous, sexy and profitable. However, golf irrigation installation is highly specialized – that’s why most golf irrigation contractors travel throughout the country – and is very different than other types of irrigation installation. It requires specialized training, more personnel, larger and more diverse equipment, and a much higher cash flow. Beware of contractors that have not installed at least five 18 holes equivalents in the last three to five years. Otherwise you run the risk of having a contractor who dabbles in golf course irrigation contracting and is not dedicated to golf installation. Make sure you also check references.

If you are contemplating improvements to your irrigation system between now and 2020, you need to get your planning and financing done and line up a contractor as soon as possible. Those who wait will find themselves with having to either put off the project or settle for a mid-level contractor or, worse, and as a consequence, an irrigation system that requires more maintenance and has a shorter life.

Brian Vinchesi, the 2015 Irrigation Association Industry Achievement Award winner, is President of Irrigation Consulting, Inc., a golf course irrigation design and consulting firm with offices in Pepperell, Massachusetts and Huntersville, North Carolina that designs golf course irrigation systems throughout the world. He can be reached at bvinchesi@irrigationconsulting.com or 978-433-8972 or followed on twitter @bvinchesi.

Who Are You?

Columns - Parting Shots

Perhaps it’s the fact that they are created from dead trees. Perhaps it’s that it requires some thought to have them when you need them. Perhaps they are symbols of an archaic culture that’s been surpassed by a new one.

Any way you look at it, the humble business card seems to be a problem for our younger generation.

I tested that hypothesis once again at the 2018 Green Start Academy, the Bayer/John Deere collaboration that has now identified, trained and helped to promote nearly 700 top assistants over 13 remarkable years.

Just to set the scene, there were 56 talented assistants from all over North America in Raleigh this year. I was heartened that the group included five women. There were also 12 attendees from Canada. And, overall, the group was a bit younger than last year’s class which tended to be a bit long in the tooth. It was a fantastic group of people.

A year ago, I attended the Academy for the first time in too long and decided to have a little fun by challenging the aspiring superintendents to produce a business card. Maybe 20 percent were able to hand me one, so I did what I always do and hopped on social media to point out that this was unacceptable. Many actual superintendents agreed, but some also said, “Hey, they can just trade phone numbers or follow each other on Twitter to build a productive relationship.”’

My problem with that is it doesn’t work consistently. Here’s what happens: “Oh, I meant to get your phone number, but I forgot.” Or: “I tried to follow you on Twitter, but I had your handle wrong.” And you fail to connect.

Also, it ignores the fundamental fact that connecting with other wannabes by technology may work fine but – guess what? – they aren’t the ones doing the hiring! The employment world is generally conducted in a loop involving a bunch of old farts who know thousands of people and are likely (for a variety of reasons including early onset Alzheimer’s) to mis-remember your name without a damned business card!

So, I made a bit of a thing about cards back then and there was some kerfuffle about it on social media. Message received? Maybe.

Flash forward to Green Start Academy 2018 and the subject comes back up again. People remembered! And there were several social posts directed at attendees saying, “Hey, kids … Jonesy is going to hassle you if you don’t have a business card!” I went to Raleigh with high hopes that lessons had been learned and those wonderful, analog 2”x3.5” pieces of chipboard would be flying around the event.

Not so much, as it turned out. I wasn’t able to abuse all 56 attendees, but I did ask about half of them and the following folks are now getting their names printed in this here old-fashioned magazine because they had the forethought to do what should be automatic:

So, good for them. They got their names in GCI. But, I will make a case that having a business card means more than impressing some crotchety old editor. It’s one part of an overall effort to manage your career development as well as you’d try to manage a project on your course. Here’s the advice I tried to give to each one of the assistants I spoke with at Green Start:

Identify your dream job based on whatever matters most to you: location, prestige, amazing boss, great culture, superb course, etc. Why would you do anything unless you’d set a big, hairy, audacious goal to go after?

Figure out what you need to do to get that job and, more importantly, who you need to know. Networking is a long, ongoing process. Make a list of the people who have an influence on that dream job and get to know them. Be transparent! Tell them that it’s your goal in life to be at that course and ask them to give you advice. Let your enthusiasm shine through.

Find out everything you can about the course, the culture of the club, who’s hiring and what they specifically want. Worry more about this than how pretty your “portfolio” is.

Reach out to key recruiters and share your goals and capabilities.

Start now!

And, finally, get some damned business cards because that’s what grown-ups do.

Pat Jones is editorial director of Golf Course Industry. He can be reached at pjones@gie.net or 216-393-0253.